


We’ll Say Goodbye Today (And I'm Sorry How It Ends This Way)

by iamirondad



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Like seriously this is angst, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Uncle Happy Hogan, they deserve better than this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23087155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamirondad/pseuds/iamirondad
Summary: Tony used to joke around, saying that Peter would be the death of him, and now, here they were.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 85





	We’ll Say Goodbye Today (And I'm Sorry How It Ends This Way)

**Author's Note:**

> If you've seen TASM2, you know what's coming...

"Be strong and hold my hand  
Time becomes for us, you'll understand  
_We'll say goodbye today_  
_And I'm sorry how it ends this way_  
If you promise not to cry  
Then I'll tell you just what I would say."

**_\- The Light Behind Your Eyes, My Chemical Romance_ **

* * *

Peter and Tony were having a productive day. 

_Well_ , they were definitely trying their best. 

Peter did adore the times they joined forces and took on bad guys together, he was fairly sure that Tony did too. 

The Iron Man and Spider-Man duo were becoming quite notorious, in the public and criminal eye. The former meant they were the subject of countless _Twitter_ memes, and the latter was genuinely terrifying at times, but Peter felt safer with Tony closeby.

Their day got off to a slow start. 

Enter, the self-proclaimed _Green Goblin_ , a masked menace in a green suit, equipped with a hoverboard and explosives. Tony and Peter purposefully steered him away from the city, that way, he couldn’t harm innocent civilians. 

“Mr. Stark!” Peter watched on helplessly, hanging off a disused streetlight. 

The Green Goblin’s arm was locked around Tony’s front, in a merciless grip. They were too high up, hovering meters away from Peter, not even a web would reach them. 

Peter gripped onto the metal, with both hands and clumsily swung himself forward, trying to create enough momentum to jump into a standing position. He could do more to help with the use of his hands. 

He stopped moving when he heard the familiar whirring sound of the repulsors. 

He darted his eyes up, the blast hit the Green Goblin square in the chest and sent him flying.

Tony lost control of the suit and was flung away in the opposite direction. He spun, faster than Peter’s eyes could comprehend, “Mr. Stark!”

Tony didn’t answer. The suit was lifeless, there was not a single glimmer of light. Tony free-fell, through the glass ceiling of an abandoned clock tower, and he didn’t fly back up.

Peter swallowed the bile in his throat and attached a web to the streetlamp, he swung forward, going as fast as he could to get there, “Mr. Stark!” He screamed as he scampered across the broken foundations of the roof.

A sharp groan echoed below, “Hey, kid.” 

Peter peered down, trying to ignore the sound of cracking glass and bent metal beneath his feet, he drew a long breath, with a hand on his hip, “Tony.”

Tony pushed himself up into a sitting position, “Now you call me Tony.” He snorted a laugh and shook his head, “Typical.” He was surrounded by a thousand shards of glass, and his suit was retracted, so his only protection was an expensive sweatsuit. 

The arc reactor on his chest that powered the nano-suit was dead.

Tony carefully got onto his feet, he wasn’t on solid ground, the metallic gears that turned the clock were under his feet, and _of course_ , the glass too. He winced, pressing a hand on his back.

“You okay?”

“A bruised vertebrae, _maybe_ …” Tony lifted his shoulder, in a half shrug, “But what else is new. I did just fall twenty feet.” He bent his head back, to look in Peter’s direction, “I’ve got good news and bad news. Take your pick.”

“Um, good news?” Peter called down, “I guess.” 

Tony let out a solemn sigh, “You’re doing really well.” He praised, coming up with something on the spot, “Proud of you.”

Peter rolled his eyes, but the frustration was hidden behind his mask, “The bad?”

Tony tapped his hand against the arc reactor, to no prevail, “Either the fall or hoverboard guy somehow managed to scramble Friday.” He explained, “Probably the latter. My suits down.”

Peter nodded, “So, what now?”

The distant squeak of the hoverboard zoomed nearby, Peter flinched. 

“I don’t want you fighting this guy alone!” Tony bellowed, in his best ‘dad’ voice, “Let’s get out of here and come back better prepared.” He suggested, “Preferably with backup.”

“Okay.” Peter eased himself down through the wreckage, he clung to a surviving beam with one hand and used the other to attach a web to the wall, he landed a few steps away from Tony. He beckoned over to his mentor, “Alright, can you--”

Peter’s senses screamed, he jerked his attention up to the night sky and witnessed a small orange ball drop, it hit the floor, between the pair, “Peter!”

Peter charged for Tony, he nudged him to the side, away from the blast. 

The bomb went off, forcing the pair apart. 

Tony lost his footing and slipped off the edge, a daunting three-hundred-foot drop was ready to welcome him.

_Not on Peter’s watch._

Peter leapt forward, catching Tony’s forearm with practised ease, “I got you, Mr. Stark.” 

“Thanks, kid.” Tony dangled over the drop, but he wasn’t even shaking, he looked more confident than ever; he nodded and flashed his signature grin, his trust in Peter shined in his eyes. 

“Okay.” The whoosh of the hoverboard flew overhead, “Alright…” He webbed up Tony’s arm and quickly lowered him onto the set of gears below, “Stay there.”

Tony’s confidence wavered, “Wait.” He narrowed his eyes, “Kid, don’t you dare.”

Peter didn’t have any other choice, “Hey, Mr. Goblin Guy!” He turned his attention to the problem at hand, “Over here.” He jumped onto the wall, diverting the Green Goblin’s focus, who followed along with the plan, unknowingly. 

Peter scurried across the wall, fast on his feet, leaning on an angle.

“Karen, we need backup.” He summoned as he avoided the Green Goblin’s fruitless attacks.

“ _War Machine is on route_.” She chirped back, “ _And Happy is driving over to meet you_.” 

“ETA?”

“ _Fifteen minutes_.”

Peter wasn’t sure if he could keep this guy preoccupied for that long, he would have to try, “Tell them to hurry.” He waved a hand, “Come on!” He taunted, “This way.”

The Green Goblin was growing tired of Peter’s antics. He bolted toward him, Peter moved out of the way, and the hoverboard collided with the brick wall. The Green Goblin shrieked, as he fell onto his backside.

The hoverboard hissed, that couldn’t be _good_. 

It dropped from the wall, barrelling through the gears below. The gears started to move, they scraped and churned against one another. Peter could tell they hadn’t been functional for years, but one clumsy hit from a supervillain's hoverboard and they were off again. 

It sliced right through the gears that Tony was trying to navigate his way across, Peter sent a web down and caught Tony’s hand, in the nick of time. 

“Thanks again, kid.” He groaned, there was no ledge or space for him to be lowered onto, “Let’s get out of here now.”

“Yeah.” Peter went to swing out, but a hand grabbed him from behind. He’d been too concerned about protecting his mentor and didn’t register the looming danger.

Tony yelped, “No!”

The Green Goblin smacked Peter’s head off the uneasy ‘ground’ and then wrapped a hand around his neck, “Get off me.” Peter scrambled; he attached the web, that was keeping Tony up, on the side of a gear. 

“Kid!” Tony screamed, he’d never sounded so scared, not in the entire time they’d known one another. 

Peter’s heart yearned for the confidence from minutes before. 

“Mr-” 

The gears squeaked and clicked over another notch. Screws came loose, and debris started falling around them. 

Peter’s world blurred.

He heard a definitive and familiar _snap_.

“Mr. Stark!” 

Debris crashed into the Green Goblin and sent him hurtling into a wall. 

Peter rolled off the edge. 

Tony was falling, arms splayed out to their sides. 

Peter held out his hand, he dodged the objects that were falling with him, pressed down on his web-shooter and sent a web in Tony’s direction. 

Everything was _slow_. 

Peter kept his hand steady. 

Tony’s eyes welled with tears, and he spoke, but the sound was lost among the chaos. 

Peter knew what he said.

_Peter_.

The web caught around Tony’s middle.

Peter held out a hand, catching himself on a pole, and he tried to maintain his hold.

There was an unnerving crack when Tony hit the ground and then there was only silence. 

Peter attached the webbing to the pole and leapt down, fast. 

He landed, a few paces away.

“Mr. Stark?” 

He ripped his mask off, over his head and tossed it to the ground. He stepped over, cautiously. 

He snapped the webbing, clean in two, with his bare hand. He was too distracted to realise that it should have been practically impossible to rip like that, especially with its duality. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter collapsed onto his knees as Tony’s body listlessly fell, in a heap, “Hey....” He caught Tony’s wrist, “I got you, Mr. Stark.” He looped an arm under his back and manoeuvred him until they were in a comfortable position.

Tony’s eyes were shut.

“Mr. Stark?” He moved his hand, nudging Tony’s cheek, “Karen?”

_“I’m sorry, Peter--”_

“No.”

_“He’s gone._

“No.”

_“It was--”_

Peter howled a scream into the nothingness.

Karen stopped protesting. 

Peter rocked, with Tony sprawled lifelessly across his lap, “Mr. Stark, wake up.”

_Nothing._

“Mr. Stark.” Peter whimpered, “Please, I don’t want you to go!” His chest rose and fell with rapid sharp breaths, “We’re _safe_ now.” He breathed, into the silence, “It’s over.” 

He choked on a sob. 

He combed a trembling hand back through Tony’s hair, hoping it provided the same comfort it did when it was the other way around. 

“Happy’s gonna be here real soon. He’s gonna save our asses, right?” He teased humourlessly, “That’s what you always say. You gotta give him a pay rise.”

Peter pulled Tony up, closer to his chest. 

“Mr. Stark?” He cradled Tony’s head in his hand, “You’re gonna be okay.” He shuddered, “You’re always okay. You’re Tony Stark.” 

He wobbled, back and forth. 

Tony was making no movement of his own. 

With each strained breath, Peter’s desperation grew, “Cho- she’s gonna help us. She’s gonna--” 

He blinked away tears. 

“You just gotta wake up.”

He stifled a scream, at the sight of blood gushing out of Tony’s nose. 

“No.”

He could feel blood seeping through the suit onto his hand. 

“Please, Mr. Stark, I don’t want you to go!” He roared, “...Don’t want you to go.” He reclined his head and wailed, “Tony, _please_!” 

There was no reply. Not even a jerk of a limb. 

Peter muttered faintly, “I can’t do this without you.”

He lowered his chin to his chest, sobs tore through his body, paralysing him. 

He shuffled back, gently guiding Tony down onto his side. He ignored the unnatural angle his mentor’s body was in. 

Peter sought shelter under Tony’s arm, pining for comfort. He hugged his knees close and bent his forehead against Tony’s chest. 

There was no heartbeat but there was familiarity. 

“Please, Tony...” Peter scrunched his eyes shut, his breaths quickly became laboured and unrhythmic, “I need you.” He wept and laid his arm over Tony’s hip, “I tried...” He moved in closer, “I’m sorry.”

Peter caused this, he was too slow and didn’t catch him in time.

Tony used to joke around, saying that Peter would be the death of him, and _now_ , here they were. 

“I’m so sorry.” Peter balled his hand around Tony’s jacket and tugged, “ _Dad_.”

Peter must have passed out.

When he came to, he wasn’t on the ground, he was being held securely in someone’s arms. 

He cracked an eye open and peered up, Happy’s haunted face greeted him. 

Disorder reverberated around. 

People, agents probably, were shouting over one another, and there was also the unmistakable sound of a shell-shocked Rhodey comforting a hysterical Pepper.

Peter closed his eyes and rolled his head limply against Happy’s chest.

Happy moved until he had a firm grip around Peter’s legs. 

Happy sniffled, “I’ve got him, Tony.” He was unaware of Peter’s consciousness, “I promise, I'm gonna keep him safe.” 

Peter respected Happy’s words but he didn’t care. 

He didn’t care about anything. 

When Tony Stark hit that ground and breathed his last, Peter Parker died with him. 

Happy was cradling a corpse, he just didn’t know it yet.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was on recently, and my brain automatically exclaimed, 'huh, imagine if Tony died like that, that would be angsty' 
> 
> I mean I didn't need to write it, but I did. Sorry.
> 
> Please feel free to shout at me in the comments, I welcome it. 
> 
> (st-rkers you even fucking look at the fanfiction, I will stomp you to death with my hooves)


End file.
